Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when he plans to publish his Department's response to Part 2 of the consultation paper, Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (whiplash) Claims Process.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is considering the issues raised in Part 2 of the consultation paper Reforming the Soft Tissue Injury (whiplash) Claims Process and intends to publish its response by the end of this year.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to ensure that customers' experience of the litigant in person portal can be (a) monitored and (b) evaluated.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is working closely with its key delivery partner (the Motor Insurers’ Bureau) and a broad group of expert stakeholders from across the personal injury sector to develop a new accessible IT Service. This will enable both represented and unrepresented claimants to progress Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under £5,000.
Public testing of the IT Service is planned to begin in November 2019 and, in light of user’s experience, the Government will consider making some further modifications to the service before it goes live in April 2020, so that it is easy to understand and navigate.
In addition, the service will provide a significant amount of management information. The Government is committed to reviewing this management information and how the new service is operating to identify any required changes and improvements approximately eighteen months from implementation. This will include a full evaluation of all relevant data relating to the overall customer experience of claimants using the service.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that insurance companies do not submit incorrect Not Admitted responses through the Litigant in Person portal.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government wants to ensure that all claimants progress their claim efficiently and that claims for compensation are not unnecessarily delayed. As part of the new process, the Government is working in partnership with expert stakeholders to develop a bespoke alternative dispute resolution scheme to support unrepresented claimants and enable them to gain, at no cost to themselves, an independent view on the liability decision made by the defendant insurer. The new IT Service will also be publishing regular management data on how claims are handled by defendant insurers, including on how many times insurers are denying liability.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the Litigant in Person portal will include the ability for the litigant to present all losses in relation to an accident.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is working closely with a broad group of expert stakeholders to develop a new accessible IT Service. This will support and enable both represented and unrepresented claimants to progress Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under the new small claims track limit of £5,000. The new service will enable claimants who can demonstrate a loss, to claim for special damages and vehicle related damages they have paid for themselves, as long as the total value of the claim does not exceed the upper limit of the small claims track.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to ensure that the Litigant in Person portal will provide adequate protection to (a) minors and (b) vulnerable people.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government confirmed on 3 July 2019 to the Justice Select Committee that it will exempt, for the time being, children and protected parties from the increase in the small claims track limit to £5,000 for road traffic accident related personal injury claims. This will mean that children and protected parties will not be required to use the new IT Service and the Pre-Action Protocol. The Government believes this is a pragmatic way forward which will enable further testing of the new processes before considering further whether they are extended to this group of claimants.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take to support a Litigant in Person to manage a claim through the portal if the litigant does not have access to the internet.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government recognises that there may be some claimants who will be unable or unwilling to access the new IT Service. As a result, the new platform is being designed to include specific support from a bespoke contact centre service to support those claimants who do not have access to, or cannot use, the digital service.
Asked by: David Hanson (Labour - Delyn)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what the cost to the public purse is of the (a) design, (b) construction and (c) annual operation of the Litigant in Person portal.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Government is working in partnership with its key delivery partner, the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, in designing and developing a new IT Service to enable injured claimants to progress their own Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims under the new £5,000 small claims track limit.
The costs associated with this new service will be funded by the insurance industry. As such, there are no costs to the public purse arising from the design, build and annual operation of the new service.